The Biggest Misconception about Modern Audiophile Records

Robert Brook runs a blog called The Broken Record, with a subtitle explaining that his blog is:

A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE

We know of none better, outside of our own humble attempt to enlighten that portion of the audiophile community who love hearing music reproduced with higher fidelity — and are willing to go the extra mile and pay the extra dollar to make that happen.

Here are Robert’s thoughts on the aforementioned misconception.

He begins:

I’ll save you the usual intro and get straight to the point. The biggest misconception about modern audiophile records is that advances in technology have rendered them sonically superior to the best vintage records, which they are not. In fact, they are rarely even competitive.

There. I said it. And just seeing those words on my screen I realize I’ve stepped right back into the same old trap with this tiresome topic. I say banana and you say “banauna.” I say vintage records sound better and you say modern audiophile reissues sound better. At best we must agree to disagree.

So maybe instead of diving right into this controversial topic I’ll start with a question. How do we change this conversation? How do we get out of the trap of this silly argument and actually make some headway towards a clearer understanding of what we’re actually debating?

To do that I think we need to acknowledge that the way a record sounds to us is extremely system dependent. I actually hate to say it because I wish it were not the case, but I can’t deny it is. Even small differences in systems can mean big differences in how those systems make a record sound.

Over the years that I’ve been making changes to my system, I’ve changed my mind about how much I like or don’t like the sound of many, many records. Even changes I thought would have little or no impact on how my records sound, did. If I had left my system as it was 10 years ago, or even 2 years ago, I’m certain I’d be singing the praises of records that I used to like a lot more than I do now. But I’m not satisfied to stay put. My system keeps getting better and better and which records have the best sound keeps getting easier to discern.

Meanwhile, it’s been ages since I played a heavy vinyl reissue and thought to myself “now that is a great sounding record.” The last one I can think of would be the UHQR of Steely Dan’s Can’t Buy A Thrill remastered by Bernie Grundman. When I played that record I liked it a lot, more than the vintage copy I had. But it wasn’t long before changes to my system had my vintage copy blowing the UHQR “out of the water,” to quote one banauna loving vinyl guy.

Robert tells a fascinating story, one that I myself have experienced many times over the years. I hope to have more comments to add soon.

Robert Brook Can Be a Guide

Robert has methodically and carefully — one might even say scientifically — approached the various problems he’s encountered in this hobby by doing the following:

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Steely Dan – Aja

More of the Music of Steely Dan

  • Killer sound for Steely Dan’s magnificent Jazzy Pop breakthrough album, with both sides earning Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them
  • Punchy, full and smooth, with the kind of rhythmic energy that brings out the jazzy funk in the music
  • A Better Records Rock and Pop Top 100 album and a true Demo Disc on a pressing that sounds as good as this one does
  • If I were to make a list of my favorite rock and pop albums of 1977, this album would definitely be right at the top
  • Considering how dismal the releases by Cisco Music and Mobile Fidelity were, it seems that no one outside of Bernie Grundman has managed to get Aja sounding right on vinyl, and that was 47 years ago
  • The sound is as heavily processed, artificial and overly glossy as practically anything produced in the 70s, which means that its Mid-Fi appeal is all but assured
  • For those of you on the Higher Fidelity end of the spectrum, our best Hot Stampers get everything sounding as right, balanced and natural as Aja can possibly sound
  • Unfortunately for those of you who don’t like paying our prices or doing your own shootouts, Bernie’s new UHQR leaves a lot to be desired. With mediocre-to-bad sound on all four sides and a price tag of $150, what else can you call it but another Analogue Productions rip-off?
  • 4 1/2 stars: “With Aja, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen’s obsession with sonic detail and fascination with composition reached new heights. A coolly textured and immaculately produced collection of sophisticated jazz-rock, Aja has none of the overt cynicism or self-consciously challenging music that distinguished previous Steely Dan records … a shining example of jazz-rock at its finest. “

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Katy Lied Is a MoFi that Beggars Belief

Katy Lied is bad enough to have earned a place in our Mobile Fidelity hall of shame.

By the time I was avidly collecting Mobile Fidelity records in the late 70s, this title had already gone out of print, one of the first to do so. My guess is that even the guys running MoFi knew when they had a turkey on their hands and mercifully let this one go out of print and out of its misery.

Yes, the sound is so bad that even the brain trust at MoFi could hear it. 

Compressed and lifeless (almost as lifeless as the screen speakers so popular at the time), it’s hard to imagine any version sounding worse than this one. (Which is why it’s on this list.)

And yet I continued to play my copy, for enjoyment of course, oblivious — I must have been oblivious, right? — to the bad sound.

Why? That’s hard to say, but here’s a stab at it.

The vinyl was exceptionally quiet for one thing, and for another, as an audiophile I knew this MoFi pressing had been made with tender loving care, using a putatively superior process, Half-Speed mastering, from the original master tapes, and had been pressed in Japan on the quietest, flattest vinyl in the world. What could possibly go wrong?

My old story about One Man Dog gets to the heart of it.

I didn’t understand records very well and I sure didn’t understand the value of doing shootouts — or even how to do them — using multiple copies of the same album.

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Bob and Ray / Throw a Stereo Spectacular

More Living Stereo Recordings

  • With STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them from start to finish, this TAS-approved Living Stereo pressing could not be beat
  • Originally produced as a sampler record for the Living Stereo line, it is an absolute Must Own for serious audiophiles looking to take their system to the next level
  • Our reference copy here at Better Records is so vital to our operation that it would not be for sale at any (well, almost any) price!
  • It has long been my personal favorite test disc, as well as one of our three best cartridge tweaking and turntable setup discs
  • 4 stars: “The gleefully cacophonous Guckenheimer Sour Kraut Band takes the prize for providing the most unusual musical selection, but the overall program is extremely diverse [and] the comedy and music are enjoyable.”

Bob and Ray Throw A Stereo Spectacular just happens to be our favorite Test Disc, eclipsing all others in the areas of naturalness and difficulty of reproduction. Any tweak or new room treatment — we seem to do them almost weekly these days — has to pass one test and one test only: The Bob and Ray Test.

This record has the power to help you get to the next level in audio like no other.

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Three Key Tracks on Younger Than Yesterday

Hot Stamper Pressings of Hippie Folk Rock Albums Available Now

Having played a killer sounding copy of Younger Than Yesterday in August of 2024, we now see that in 2019, at the time of our last shootout, we had a lot to learn about the album.

Our top copy received rave reviews on side one:

  • Here are just a few of of the things we had to say about this amazing Triple Plus side one in our notes: “big and tubey vox & bass”…”great size and energy”…”jumping out [of the speakers]”…”crazy good”
  • The sound is Tubey Magical, lively and dynamic, with exceptional transparency and immediacy
  • We’re always blown away at just how much further the better copies are able to take the music – what a difference the right pressing makes

But in 2019 we were much less enthusiastic:

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Pentangle – Cruel Sister

More British Folk Rock

  • Here is an original UK import pressing of Pentangle’s 1970 release (the first copy to ever hit the site) with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them on both sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • The unprocessed quality found throughout the album has its audiophile credentials fully in order, especially in the area of guitar harmonics, as well as drums that sound like real drums actually sound
  • The true foundation of the music is provided by two legendary guitar heavyweights, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, with Jacqui McShee’s almost unbearably sweet vocals soaring above them
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Cruel Sister shows Pentangle at their artistic height, combining all of their skill and inspiration to create a vital and enduring album.”

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A Kinder, Gentler Approach to Record Reviewing

Record Collecting for Audiophiles from A to Z

Allow me to respond to a comment left by a fellow named Ian Malone.

It was left in the comments section for the interview Steve Westman did with me.

He wrote:

Quite happy for you to promote your business Tom, but surely you are a better person than doing it in this way. I know that other people in the industry have said unkind things about you but you can rise above these insults.

My response:

I never say that the people making these modern records, as well as those reviewing them, are malicious or evil. I say they make or review bad sounding records and are simply misguided and, more than anything else, incompetent.

Am I being unkind? If Michael Bay makes one bad movie after another, are we unkind to point that out? I don’t know whether or not he is a bad person, but I do know that he is a bad filmmaker, and gets called out regularly for putting out a bad product.

Everyone understands that this is a matter of taste. If you always wished The Beatles albums had more bass, more compression and a smoother tonal balance overall, you can buy the new Heavy Vinyl pressings and get the sound you prefer on every title The Beatles ever released.

However, I hope you know that the sound I have just described does not exist on the master tapes.

UPDATE 2026

I would amend the above statement to say “that the sound I have just described is very unlikely to exist on the master tapes,” since all of the pressings of The Beatles’ music that we think sound more correct do not have that sound. Where that “more correct” sound came from is a matter of speculation, but we sure know it when we hear it, as do our customers. More on that subject here.

I have no way of actually knowing that for a fact, but since no mastering engineer before 2014 had ever put that sound on an actual record, I think we can safely say that the evidence supports the idea that a completely “new sound” was specifically created for The Beatles when their catalog was remastered early in this century. [1]

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Adam / Giselle / Karajan – A Classic Decca Recording from 1962

Hot Stamper Pressings on Decca and London Available Now

UPDATE 2026

Reviewed in 2010 so take what we say with a large grain of salt. Dutch pressings are rarely the way to go.

This Dutch Import is the best sounding copy I have ever heard. It is dead silent and rich!

Big spacious hall sound. Lovely mid-hall perspective. Very smooth and sweet.

You can listen to music like this for hours and never get tired — the opposite of your typical Classic Records pressing.

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The Polydor Super Deluxe UK Pressings Are the Only Way to Fly

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Roxy Music Available Now

No domestic pressing or other import in our experience has ever been better than passable; we know, we’ve been cleaning and playing them for more than thirty years.

This British LP is cut by one of my favorite mastering houses in England, which no doubt accounts for the excellent sound. The estimable Robert Ludwig cut the domestic pressings. Unfortunately for us Americans it sounds to us like they gave him a dub tape to master from. (The same thing happened on Avalon by the way.)

This is a transitional album. Some of it sounds like Avalon (Oh Yeah, Over You, etc.) and some of it sounds more like their earlier material. It may not be as consistent as Avalon but it’s well worth owning for its best songs (listed below) and comes highly recommended for fans of the band. 

Best Tracks

Standout tracks on side one include In the Midnight Hour / Oh Yeah / My Only Love

Standout tracks on side two include Over You / Eight Miles High / Rain, Rain, Rain

Insightful reviews for the album follow:

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The Who / Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy – Their Must Own Singles Compilation

More of the Music of The Who

  • With seriously good Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them on both sides, you’ll have a hard time finding a copy that sounds remotely as good as this vintage UK import
  • Features material not available on any of the band’s other albums, making it an absolute Must Own
  • The sound quality of the tracks varies quite a bit but that’s the nature of beast when it comes to these compilation LPs
  • Many tracks were left in mono and that is a big help when it comes to the sound of the early Who recordings
  • “I Can’t Explain” on side one is pretty much right on the money – rich and clear, with good top end extension, there aren’t many sides out there that get as much right as this one does
  • 5 stars: “Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy has the distinction of being the first in a long line of Who compilations. It also has the distinction of being the best. The Who recorded their share of great albums during the 60s, but condensing their highlights to just the singles is an electrifying experience.”

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